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Who's Who - Leonard Wood

Leonard Wood (1860-1927) prepared the
U.S. army for its eventual entry into the First World War in 1917 by serving
as its Chief of Staff from 1910-14.

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Wood was born on 9 October
1860 in Winchester, New Hampshire, the son of a doctor. Entering
Harvard Medical School in 1880 he graduated in 1883 and determined to take
up a career within the U.S. army, initially as a contract physician in 1885.

Wood served as a member of
the expedition that conducted the army's final campaign against the
legendary American Indian fighter Geronimo.

Wood's medical service led
to a succession of varied appointments, including acting as personal
physician to President McKinley. In 1898 he was awarded the Medal of
Honor in recognition of his gallantry and services to the army.

War with Spain in 1898 saw
Wood request a line command; in due course he was rewarded with command of
the 1st Volunteer Cavalry Brigade; his second in command was Theodore
Roosevelt. Wood's regiment subsequently developed a popular reputation
as the "Rough Riders". Having led his men at Las Guasimas and San Juan
Hill Wood saw out the remainder of the campaign at the head of 2nd Cavalry
Brigade.

Remaining in Cuba at the
end of the war, Wood acted as its Military Governor until 1902, during which
time he instituted a series of political, social and educational reforms.
Prior to his return to the U.S. Wood was promoted Brigadier-General.

By now accustomed to
command positions Wood served in various leadership roles upon his departure
from Cuba, including command of the Philippines Division and as the head of
the Department of the East. His ultimate appointment, which came in
1910, was as army Chief of Staff: the only medical officer to hold the
position.

As at Cuba earlier Wood
instituted numerous reforms as Chief of Staff, strengthening the General
Staff (and his own position) and reducing the role of the somewhat
conservative bureau system (which acted chiefly to hinder army reform).
He also developed the Manoeuvre Division and the concept of the Mobile Army.

Having thus laid the
groundwork for America's eventual participation in World War One, Wood was
replaced as Chief of Staff in 1914 by
John Pershing.
Wood himself returned to the Department of the East and campaigned
ceaselessly for an official policy of military preparedness (founding the
Preparedness Movement in 1915), a campaign that did not endear him to the
current Democrat administration overseen by President
Woodrow Wilson.

It also ensured that he
would not be assigned a prominent role when the
U.S. finally entered the war
in April 1917, passed over by both Pershing and Secretary of War
Newton Baker.
Instead Wood was reduced to training the 89th and 10th Infantry Divisions
for service in France.

A Republican with broad
party support, Wood lobbied for his party's presidential nomination after
the war; in the event however the nomination went to
Warren Harding on the
tenth ballot; Harding subsequently won the 1920 presidential election.

Retiring from the army in
1921 Wood was appointed by Harding as Governor General of the Philippines, a
post to which he was ideally suited. He held the position until
shortly before his death in Boston on 7 August 1927 from a brain tumour.

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Saturday, 22 August, 2009Michael Duffy

A "Bangalore Torpedo" was an explosive tube used to clear a path through a wire entanglement.